NEWFOUNDLAND

New program in Terra Nova aims to preserve thriving salmon populations

CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts. (Submitted by Kristen Noel - image credit)

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts.

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts. (Submitted by Kristen Noel)

The Atlantic Salmon Federation has launched a new conservation program aimed not at areas where fish are at risk, but rather at areas where salmon are thriving, with the goal to keep it that way for years to come.

The federation, which operates within the Atlantic provinces, has chosen four salmon watersheds: the Margaree and Cheticamp Rivers in Nova Scotia, the Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick, and the Terra Nova River in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Kristen Noel, the communication representative for the federation, said that they searched for rivers with self-sustaining salmon populations, free of environmental threats such as invasive fish species and man-made structures like dams. Most importantly, they looked for rivers with an active community involved in fishing and conservation efforts.

"We're looking at watersheds that have active salmon fisheries so that we can have stewards out on the water," Noel said.

"They are the eyes and ears of the land. They let us know when they notice issues with the salmon. They really care about the fish and the river."

Another criterion was an active group working on the conservation of the watershed.

Kris Hunter, the director of programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, delivered a speech in Glovertown, NL, about the launch of the conservation program.

 (Submitted by Kristen Noel)

The ASF partnered with the Freshwater Alexander Bays Ecosystem Corporation for the Terra Nova location. They are a local group that works on projects that preserve the watershed.

The Federation's role, Noel said, is not only to provide funding for conservation projects but also to offer scientific resources, information, and guidance both on the river and in the boardroom for business and community outreach.

"And we also connect partners who are doing similar work so that we can have a network for knowledge sharing. We can simply be there to provide support with any questions, so that they can focus on doing that important work in their local communities."

The type of work could involve mapping current and future land use in the area, as well as assessing watersheds for vulnerability to factors such as climate change and habitat improvement. According to Noel, the scope of work varies depending on the area.

The ASF collaborates with universities, such as Memorial University, to create models that predict the effects of warm air temperatures on watersheds. This provides partners with additional information for their efforts.

"Our goal over the long term is to have 30 wild salmon watersheds across Eastern Canada," said Noel.

"Right now, with the wild salmon watersheds, we're not considering any restrictions. Anglers are an important part of conservation, so at the moment, we don't plan on imposing any restrictions. We only hope to protect the land and water."

The federal government used to build social housing. Then it stopped. How is that going?


CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Whitchurch-Stouffville aerial scenic of areas under development for residential home construction. Taken on June 11, 2022. Since the federal government pulled out of building non-market housing, there's been a gap in who takes that on, say advocates. (Patrick Morrell/CBC - image credit)

Many agree we're in the middle of a national housing crisis. So how did we get here?

It depends on who you ask, but for many housing experts, affordability advocates and municipal officials, the answer lies in part with a policy shift consecutive federal governments joined decades ago. A shift that some argue provides clues on how to fix the current housing conundrum.

Despite the prime minister's assertion earlier this month that housing isn't primarily a federal responsibility, it hasn't always been that way.

Canada had long provided subsidized housing for people who couldn't afford to pay market value: for workers and returning veterans after the Second World War, for example, and in the 1970s and early 80s as pressure mounted for Ottawa to intervene during a series of recessions.

In the early to mid-1990s, back-to-back governments of different political stripes — first the Conservative government under Brian Mulroney and then Jean Chretien's Liberals — began pulling back from the business of affordable housing.

Facing big deficits and with neoliberalism taking hold globally, Ottawa reduced spending on housing, cut the federal co-operative housing program (one that saw the construction of nearly 60,000 homes) and eventually pulled the plug on building any new affordable housing units altogether.

We now have a 30 year deficit in non-market housing, said Andy Yan, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University.

"We're dealing with the consequences now," said Yan. "Specific populations are struggling for housing that is affordable, that has some kind of relationship to their income."

"We see who's paying the price on our streets in Canada."

Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University, is pictured in Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021.

Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University, is pictured in Vancouver in a 2021 file photo. He says the consequences of Ottawa doing less for social housing are seen on the streets of cities today. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

Canada's housing crisis has been the Liberal government's priority at this week's cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, P.E.l., with the country's housing minister, Sean Fraser, even suggesting the the federal government is considering a cap on the number of international students to ease the pressure on the housing market.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), Canada needs to build 5.8 million new homes — including two million rental units — by 2030 to tackle housing affordability.

Municipalities left to manage housing file

It's not just the federal government that's passed the buck on affordable housing. Over a number of years in the late 90s and early 2000s, the Conservative government in Ontario, under Mike Harris, passed the file to municipalities to manage.

"Devolving responsibility in itself is not a problem," said Murtaza Haider, professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University. That is, of course, "if it is accompanied by giving more resources," he said.

Murtaza Haider, a professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University, believes governments need to look at bigger initiatives to tackle the country's housing crisis.

Murtaza Haider, a professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University, believes governments need to look at bigger initiatives to tackle the country's housing crisis. (James Dunne/CBC)

And according to Haider, that hasn't happened.

"Responsibility for social housing ended up with local governments despite their severely constrained revenue base," he said. "Municipal governments get 10 per cent of the taxes we pay. 90 per cent of our taxes go to the feds and the provinces."

In 2017, the federal government announced it was "re-engaging in affordable housing through the National Housing Strategy," and said it would invest more than $82B over 10 years to "build stronger communities and help Canadians across the country access a safe, affordable home."

"But the realization is that the demand for such housing far exceeds the supply and the subsidies and the support that the three tiers of governments are providing," said Haider.

Gord Krantz was first elected to the town council in Milton, Ont., in 1965. He's been the mayor since 1980.

Gord Krantz was first elected to the town council in Milton, Ont., in 1965. He's been the mayor since 1980. (Submitted by Gord Krantz)

At 86, Milton Mayor Gord Krantz is familiar with changing policies and philosophies on social housing. Krantz is Canada's longest serving mayor, having been in the seat since 1980. He was a town councillor for 15 years before that.

"Downloading usually will start at the top," he said. "The federal government is the top of the food chain. They downloaded on the province and then the province downloads on municipalities. We're the end of the food chain."

But all levels of government need to come together to tackle the housing crisis, said Krantz. "It's come to a peak now. We're all going to have to get our act together to address this looming problem," he said.

It comes down to money. The Region of Halton — which Milton is a part of — needs more money for affordable housing, said Krantz.

"The federal and provincial governments, with their taxing abilities, they can make it work," he said. "Could they maybe cut back in an area or two and put an extra billion or two into social housing? I think they have the ability to do that."

CBC contacted the office of the housing minister, who referred questions to the CMHC. It didn't respond by deadline.

Can the private sector pick up the pieces?

In the absence of government leadership, it's clear who has taken charge, says Leilani Farha, global director with the human rights organization, The Shift.

"When [Ottawa] retreated from the housing market, they allowed the private sector to invade the space and come in a very unregulated way," said Farha, who is also the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing.

As result, Canada now has an unruly and very powerful private real estate sector, said Farha. "They're used to being on a gravy train and receiving preferential tax treatment without having to provide any social housing."

For Farha, the answer to easing Canada's housing crisis is two-fold: better regulate the private sector so developers are compelled to include affordable housing in their portfolios and governments need to pony up more money for social housing projects.

Simply flooding the market with new market value units isn't the answer, she said.

Leilani Farha is the global director of The Shift, an international human rights organization and is the former UN special rapporteur on the right to housing.

Leilani Farha is the global director of The Shift, an international human rights organization and is the former UN special rapporteur on the right to housing. (Idil Mussa/CBC)

"Traditional supply-demand economics do not apply anymore in the housing sector," she said. "Institutional investors with so much money and ability to finance are speculating with housing."

"It's skewed the whole market."

Farha believes federal governments in the 90s made a grave mistake when they abandoned the social housing file, but the bigger mistake was losing the vision.

"Housing is for households and not speculative investment," she said. "Changing that vision was a colossal mistake."

With files from Andrea Hoang

Receiving death threats not regular part of Quebec elementary teacher's job: tribunal

The Canadian Press
Sat, August 26, 2023 



LÉVIS, Que. — The psychological harm suffered by a Quebec elementary teacher after a student brought knives to school and told classmates he planned to kill her was a workplace injury, the province's labour tribunal has ruled.

The teacher, identified only as K.R. in the ruling, filed a workplace injury claim in February 2020, saying the incident — which took place three months before — and the boy's continued presence in her class led to an anxiety disorder.

The tribunal ruling overturns a May 2020 decision by Quebec's labour board, which sided with her employer, dismissed her claim and ordered her to repay more than $1,590 in benefits.

"Receiving death threats, even if they are not carried out, is beyond the normal and foreseeable scope of a second grade teacher's work," administrative judge Renée-Claude Bélanger wrote in his late July ruling.

Bélanger's decision found a seven-year-old student — identified as X — told other children he had brought knives to school in order to kill the teacher. Those threats were reported to a school daycare worker, who found four butter knives in the boy's backpack and confiscated them.

But K.R. told the tribunal she was never officially informed about the incident and instead heard about what had happened from a fifth grade student.

She testified that after the child told her about the incident, moments before the start of class, she felt a sense of panic and remembers little of the morning.

"All that she remembers is that X was in her class and that no one came to see her to tell her about the situation or ask if she was all right," Bélanger wrote.

Later in the day, during recess, a colleague came to ask K.R. if it was true that X had brought knives to school and threatened to kill her. The colleague told her all the children were talking about the incident, according to the ruling, but K.R. still hadn't been officially informed of what happened.

She wouldn't find out that the student had only brought simple butter knives to school until months later when she read documents filed with the labour board, Bélanger wrote.

"The Tribunal holds that she would have liked to not have had X in her class at the beginning of the day and to have been advised of the situation by someone other than a fifth-grader," he wrote.

While X and his mother met with a police officer and school administrators that day, K.R. testified she wasn't invited to the meeting, Bélanger wrote.

In her testimony, K.R. described X as a disruptive student who was feared by other children and who frequently ran away from class.

She told the tribunal the boy's behaviour in the months that followed exacerbated the anxiety she felt after the incident and she dreaded the thought of having to finish the school year with him in her class.

School administrators rejected a request to allot dedicated time for the student to work with a special-education teacher, according to her testimony.

She stopped working in mid-January 2020 and sought medical attention for her anxiety.

The teacher's employer, a school service centre that operates the school near Quebec City where she taught, opposed her workplace injury claim. Neither the school nor the service centre are named in the ruling.

According to the decision, the employer argued X never posed a real or potential danger to the teacher and her situation doesn't meet the criteria for a workplace injury.

It told the tribunal the teacher received all the necessary and available professional assistance and that her teaching responsibilities were the normal and expected duties of an elementary school teacher.

While Bélanger ruled that dealing with a disruptive student is part of a primary school teacher's normal responsibilities, X's behaviour, coupled with the death threat, went beyond what a second grade teacher would normally be expected to handle and were "objectively traumatic."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2023.

— By Jacob Serebrin in Montreal

The Canadian Press

Hundreds rally in Saskatoon against new sexual education, pronoun policies in province's schools


CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 a

People rallied in Sasktoon Sunday against recently announced school policies around sexual education and students pronouns. (Camille Cusset/CBC - image credit)

Hundreds of people assembled in Saskatoon Sunday afternoon, protesting new policies around students' pronouns and sexual education in schools.

Sunday's rally occurred around the Wildwood area, outside the office of Don Morgan, the minister of Crown Investment Corporation, as well as labour relations and workplace safety. It is the latest in a wave of opposition to the education policies announced earlier this week.

"Stop this. It's not in the interest of saving children, or making children safe," said Fran Forsberg, one of the rally organizers. Two of her children are transgender.

"You are putting youth and children in harm's way."

On Tuesday, Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced several new policies around sexual education and the use of pronouns in schools throughout the province.

If a student is younger than 16, schools must now seek permission from their parent or guardian to change the child's pronouns and preferred name. Consent is not required for students aged 16 or older.

Parents and guardians must now be informed about the sex education curriculum, and have the option to pull their child from participating.

School boards must also cease inviting third-party organizations — excluding provincial government and Saskatchewan Health Authority employees — to present about sexual health education in classrooms, until the education ministry finishes reviewing its materials for the curriculum.

In the meantime, only teachers are allowed to conduct sexual education in classrooms.

The announcement stems from an incident that occurred in Lumsden High School in June, just before the end of the school year.

Many people at Sunday's rally focused on the pronoun policy announced by Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan on Tuesday.

Many people at Sunday's rally focused on the pronoun policy announced by Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan on Tuesday. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

Planned Parenthood Regina, a sexual health clinic that offers community programming, among other things, presented to a Grade 9 health class about contraception, consent, and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections — which aligned with the curriculum.

The presenters left behind additional resources if students wanted to learn more. One student picked up a copy of a card set titled Sex from A-Z, which was unrelated to the presentation and not age-appropriate.

The new policies are an attempt to get parents more involved in their children's schooling, and create uniformity across school divisions when it comes to dealing with these matters, Duncan previously said.

On Sunday, Premier Scott Moe posted on social media, defending the policies.

He has been touring the province and, at "every stop," he has received positive responses to the new policy, he said.

Yet, since Tuesday morning, the Opposition NDP, educators, health professionals and sexual health stakeholders have strongly opposed the move, suggesting the policies could harm transgender and non-binary children — as well as students in general — through lesser sexual education.

"Kids do better [in school] when parents are involved," said NDP education critic Matt Love, who attended Sunday's rally. "The fact is, these policies are forcing schools and teachers into a position that could put children at risk."

Lisa Broda, Saskatchewan's Advocate for Children and Youth, has announced her office will be reviewing the new pronoun policy — about which she said they were not advised.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a non-partisan non-profit organization that focuses on protecting human rights and freedoms, suggests the pronoun policy discriminates against gender-diverse students specifically and could violate privacy rights if someone was outed.

Critics have questioned which experts the government consulted when crafting — and moving forward with — the new education policies, as there is a body of research that suggests how harmful they could be.

CBC News asked Duncan that question earlier this week. He evaded answering directly, but said the government would be consulting and researching moving forward.

On Sunday, Moe acknowledged on social media that he had been asked the same question.

"I believe the leading experts in children's upbringing are their parents," he said.

'Not all parents are safe to involve'

People who spoke with CBC News Sunday didn't fully support Moe's belief, because not all parents are open to gender diversity.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, has consulted with schools to identify safe people — teachers, in particular — for gender-diverse youth to talk to, in between therapy sessions, she said.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, says schools and teachers are often safe havens for gender diverse students.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, says schools and teachers are often safe havens for gender diverse students. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

"They need to be validated in the world that they live in," she said.

Mead has seen the role teachers can play in her personal life, too. Mead is an open ally of the LGBTQ community, she said. Yet, her own child waited nine months to come out to her about being transgender.

Her child first came out to a teacher, Mead said.

"They were still worried that I would kick them out of the home," she said.

Wilbur Braidek, 14, finds the new pronoun policy "really stupid."

Wilbur Braidek, left, attended Sunday's rally with his mother Jessica Fraser, right. Braidek changed his name at school last year without telling his parents.

Wilbur Braidek, left, attended Sunday's rally with his mother Jessica Fraser, right. Braidek changed his name at school last year without telling his parents. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

He changed his preferred name last year, so for him, the new policy — and the paperwork that comes with it — would be an inconvenience "just to get them to call me my name," Braidek said.

Braidek changed his name without telling his parents, said Jessica Fraser, his mother.

"Not all parents are safe to involve," she said.

"Our kids should be able to be themselves at school. School should be a safe place, where you can trust the people around you and be yourself — and sometimes home isn't that."

Don Kossick, who was appointed to the Order of Canada this year in part for promoting human rights and social justice, was among the crowd in Saskatoon Sunday.

He wants the government to "back off right away and apologize," Kossick told CBC News.

"They've caused a commotion in this province. It's not fair — and it's not fair to the people who want to be who they are," he said.

Trans Lifeline provides a national phoneline operated by transgender people for people who are transgender or questioning their gender identity. Canadians can access support by calling the 24-hour service at 1-877-330-6366.

Refugees sleeping in Toronto churches continue calls for government support

CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in a Toronto church protested outside Premier Doug Ford's constituency office on Thursday. (CBC - image credit)

After spending days or weeks living in an emergency shelter at a Toronto church, dozens of asylum seekers and refugees want action from the provincial and federal government.

On Thursday, asylum seekers who have been living at Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles in Etobicoke staged a protest outside Premier Doug Ford's constituency office at 823 Albion Road. Nadine Miller, a director with the church, says its been housing about 150 people and neglecting bills to pay for their food.

While immigration policies are a federal responsibility, Miller and the church is calling on all levels of government to work together on a solution.

"We need them, from the local level in Ontario to the federal government, to sit down and come up with a way that the refugees that are sleeping in the churches can be moved, can be housed," she said.

The church is one of multiple in the city that has stepped up to help asylum seekers who had been sleeping on city sidewalks outside a homeless support centre at 129 Peter Street downtown as the city and federal government went back and forth over shelter funding. On Friday, Mayor Olivia Chow said the city has provided three churches with $50,000 to help offset costs of housing refugees.

Half of people coming to Toronto shelters are refugees: mayor

Chow said the city is housing about 10,000 people in its shelter system, around 3,300 of them are newcomers.

"Half the people coming to shelters are refugees," Chow said.

Ford also addressed the situation during a media availability on Friday.

"I have people in my own riding, as you've heard, asylum seekers, new refugees, coming here [and] sleeping in church's basements, sleeping in an old TD Bank. That's unacceptable," Ford said. "We need to continue to build homes."

Beatrice Wathira was one of the asylum seekers protesting outside Ford's office this week. She says she had to flee Kenya because her life was in danger.

Beatrice Wathira said she came to Canada because she knew the federal government would help people in need.

Beatrice Wathira said she came to Canada because she knew the federal government would help people in need. (CBC)

"I had been reading about Canada and I know it's a good country, where [the] government can take care of the person who is in need of being protected," said Wathira, who used to be employed operating heavy machinery on construction sites and hopes to do the same here.

A report published in June by CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal found there are at least 80,000 vacancies in the construction industry nationwide. But before Wathira could help fill one, she's calling on the government to help her find somewhere to live.

'Winter is coming'

Miller is worried that the coming change in seasons will only make things worse.

"Winter is coming. If these people are not acclimatized and educated and into homes right now, I believe that we will lose some of their lives," she said.

Throughout the summer, Chow has been calling on the federal government to supply more money to help address the situation.

In July, the federal government announced that asylum seekers would be given a one-time injection of about $212 million, with $97 million for Toronto, into the Interim Housing Assistance Program.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not reply to a request for comment prior to the publication of this story.

Influx of asylum claimants flooding shelters, social services in Ottawa

The Canadian Press
Sun, August 27, 2023 



OTTAWA — Femi Biobaku came to Canada more than a year ago fleeing persecution from the Nigerian authorities, forcing him to leave his wife, two children, community and job as an accountant back home.

He landed in Ottawa in July 2022 and stayed with a host family for nearly a month before moving into a dorm at the Ottawa Mission homeless shelter, where things took a turn for the worse.

"It was horrible. When I was there, I was being attacked," said Biobaku.

After leaving Nigeria, the newcomer said, living at the shelter for about a month re-traumatized him, leading him to consider suicide.

He credits a referral to Ottawa's Matthew House — a non-profit organization that provides transitional housing to refugees — for saving his life.

"The first day I landed at Matthew House … that night, it was like I was in my home back in Nigeria," said Biobaku.

He said Matthew House, along with providing food and shelter, helped him get his life in Canada on track with therapy and other support services.

And after receiving his work permit, Biobaku has been employed by Matthew House's furniture bank — a program that helps newcomers and low-income families in Ottawa furnish their homes.

Biobaku is just one of nearly 92,000 asylum claimants who fled to Canada in 2022, and around 70,000 more have arrived since, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

It has led to an influx of unsponsored refugee claimants that have flooded homeless shelters, temporary housing and social services in several Canadian cities, most notably in Toronto, and now in Ottawa.

Allan Reesor-McDowell, executive director of Matthew House, said all 13 of its reception and transitional homes are at full capacity, which combined typically provide beds for over 90 people.

Before the pandemic, Reesor-McDowell said, refugees would stay in these homes for three to four months before moving to more permanent housing, but now it's around six months.

He said this is because, simply put, "it's harder to find housing."

The refugee crisis has escalated for a decade, long neglected by the Canadian government, he said.

"This is not a new thing at all," said Reesor-McDowell.

"If you don't address something that's staring you in the face for years, eventually it catches up to you."

Reesor-McDowell said Matthew House and 30 to 40 similar organizations across Canada are the best option for helping unsponsored refugees when they first arrive and permanently diverting homelessness.

That process includes finding newcomers legal aid, securing a work permit and a job, then transitioning them into permanent housing and independence, he said.

The number of refugee claimants coming to Canada is not overwhelming and could be easily handled if co-ordinated services were given the resources to expand, he added.

"It's not that complicated, we already know what to do," said Reesor McDowell. "We have programs that are super effective (and) low-cost. We just need more of that capacity across the country and then it's not a problem."

The city provides Matthew House with $270,000 annually, which goes toward staffing, but operational costs are supported through fundraising and grants, Reesor-McDowell said.

He added that while Matthew House has received municipal support, the federal government's response has been lacklustre.

Last month, the federal government announced $210 million in funding toward temporary housing for refugee claimants, with nearly half pledged to get asylum seekers in Toronto off the streets.

Reesor-McDowell said that instead of contributing to programs that welcome and support asylum seekers, the feds have invested in temporary and less cost-effective options such as hotels.

However, at least one Ottawa city councillor sees a place for hotels in the mix of short-term solutions.

Several community centres in the national capital were repurposed during the pandemic to provide housing when shelters were full.

Though that was supposed to be a temporary solution, demand has forced the city to leave some open.

Right now, two are still being used as shelters and both are at maximum capacity, including one in Ottawa Coun. Stéphanie Plante's Rideau-Vanier ward.

Plante worries that using recreation centres in low-income areas is taking away an important community resource from children.

"It just seems like we're being put in a position where, you know, we're putting vulnerable people, on top of vulnerable people, on top of vulnerable people, and they're kind of competing for the limited resources in these areas," she said.

An alternative to using the community centres as temporary housing, Plante said, is relocating refugees to hotels, motels and Airbnb's across the city until longer-term solutions are found.

"We have hotels in Kanata, in Orleans, in Barrhaven. We could be putting people in all parts of the city if we really wanted to give those rec centres back to kids," she said.

As for the long-term solutions, Plante feels the answer is not letting bureaucracy get in the way and finding creative fixes to the housing problem.

Plante mentioned turning vacant government offices into residences and offering incentives to developers who build on brownfields, spaces where former factories or other operations might have contaminated the soil.

"I want to see cranes in the sky. I want to see work boots," she said. "I want to see hammering away. Like, I just want to build.".

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2023.

Liam Fox, The Canadian Press

Climate Change Is Helping Pests and Diseases Destroy Our Food

Mumbi Gitau
Sat, August 26, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Pests and diseases are exacerbating crop shortages that have sent prices for goods like cocoa, olive oil and orange juice soaring. That’s set to become even more prevalent as extreme weather events multiply.

Already, plant diseases cost the global economy over $220 billion every year, and invasive insects at least $70 billion, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Pests adapt easily to the changing climate, with warmer temperatures allowing them to generate more quickly and migrate faster, in turn reducing crop yields, according to Leah Buchman, an entomologist at Georgetown University.

“As temperature rise, you have this expanded geographic range and this expanded range of insects that will just increase those diseases that insects spread,” Buchman said.

As a result, destructive moths native to the Americas have been found devouring corn and other grains across Africa and Asia. A whitefly associated with tropical and subtropical climates has been destroying tomato plantations in Europe. Below are some of the crops that are struggling as the enemies that destroy them increase.

Cocoa

West Africa, home to two-thirds of global cocoa supply, has seen serious difficulties with its crop in recent seasons, causing wholesale prices to soar near historic highs this year.

Two diseases in particular have compounded the problem. Black pod disease is caused by fungal-like organisms that spread rapidly on cacao pods under humid conditions, turning them black or brown. It has caused destruction of up to 30% of annual cocoa crops, according to the several studies. Prolonged periods of heavy rain combined with irregular patterns have increased opportunities for it to spread.

Swollen shoot virus is transmitted via mealybugs that feed on the sap of cocoa plants, and significantly reduces crop yields before eventually killing the plant. Mealybugs thrive in warmer temperatures, and can spread the virus quickly even if only a single seedling is infected. Uprooting infected trees is the only way to control the disease, according to World Agroforestry. About 20% of the cocoa crop in Ivory Coast is infected with swollen shoot, said Steve Wateridge, head of research at Tropical Research Services.

Tomatoes


The price of tomatoes in India soared 700% last month, an increase so out of the ordinary that it has sparked social media memes comparing the cost of the essential ingredient with anything from petrol to political influence.

The crop’s output took a hit amid delayed monsoon, heavy rains in some growing areas and hotter-than normal temperatures in June. But it has also suffered because of the so-called silverleaf whitefly. The sap-feeding insect has the ability to transmit hundreds of plant viruses, crimping production of key crops like tomatoes, but also cassava, beans and sweet potatoes. In India, the highly infectious tomato leaf curl virus transmitted by the insect contributed to devastating losses. The virus was recently introduced to Europe, possibly from India and has been causing outbreaks in several European countries. The insects have shown high adaptability to changes in agro-ecosystems, with a combination of hot weather and high humidity resulting in the insects’ buildup.

Olives

Spain, the world’s largest olive oil producer, is facing its own type of oil crisis as drought has caused output to dwindle, more than doubling wholesale costs in the past year. But it’s not only extreme heat and dryness that’s biting into European olive farmers’ production.

With temperatures in the region rising, fending off certain diseases has become more difficult. Xylella fastidiosa is “one of the most dangerous plant bacteria worldwide,” according to the European Commission, and has the potential to cause an annual production loss of €5.5 billion in the EU. The bacterium kills plants by clogging vessels that carry water from roots to leaves, slowly choking them to death.

Temperatures below -5C (23F) can reduce the disease viability, but with winter seasons reaching those temperatures less frequently, the distribution of suitable areas for the bacteria may change. In Italy, at least 20 million of the country’s 150 million olive trees have already been infected, mostly in the region of Puglia, which used to contribute up to 50% of Italy’s total annual olive oil production.

Grains

The global grains trade has faced trouble for a number of reasons, not least due to recent escalations in Russia’s war against Ukraine. While prices have remained more or less in check, unfavorable weather and pests have sparked local production issues in some countries.

That’s true in China, one of the world’s top growers of corn, where pests like the fall armyworm are attacking plants earlier than usual. Native to the Americas, the destructive pest is now found across various continents including Asia and Africa. Fall armyworms can migrate hundreds of kilometers in a single night during their moth stage, and produce many eggs, raising their chances of survival. Warmer and humid weather supports survival and reproduction of the pest, allowing larvae to begin their assault much earlier in a crop cycle.

Orange Juice

Damage from hurricanes, frost and diseases have decimated orange groves in Florida, pushing US orange juice futures to record highs this month. Orange growers across Brazil and the US are struggling to battle the citrus greening disease, a fatal illness that causes fruits to get smaller, fall off trees and produce bitter juice, causing a global shortage.

The disease, transmitted by a insect known as the Asian citrus psyllid, is considered the most serious threat to citrus plants. In Brazil, nearly one in four orange trees in Sao Paulo State and western Minas Gerais have the disease, according to research group Fundecitrus.

An increase in average temperatures in parts of the country’s citrus belt can benefit the spread of the insect that carries the bacteria, according to a study by Brazilian Agricultural Research company Embrapa. Citrus crop output in Brazil, the world’s top exporter, has also dwindled due to the disease.

--With assistance from Dayanne Sousa.

Exclusive-India's aviation watchdog reviewing fatigue data after pilot death-source

Aditi Shah and Riddhima Talwani
Fri, August 25, 2023 

 An Air India Airbus A320 aircraft takes off as an IndiGo Airlines aircraft waits for clearance at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad

By Aditi Shah and Riddhima Talwani

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's air safety watchdog has launched a review of pilot fatigue data to see if any policy changes are needed after the sudden death of an IndiGo pilot, a senior aviation ministry official told Reuters.

The rare review, which has not previously been reported, comes after an IndiGo pilot collapsed and died before his flight last week. That has sparked complaints from some Indian pilots that they are being stretched to the brink by airlines, even though they comply with duty time regulations.

After the death, hundreds of airline pilots plan to form an association to challenge flying duty regulations they say cause fatigue and jeopardise safety, Reuters reported this week.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now decided to conduct a review of pilot fatigue data it has collected during spot checks and surveillance of airlines to see if regulations related to flight duty times or fatigue need to be changed, said the official.

The regulator could go a step further by approaching Indian airlines to submit details of pilot complaints related to fatigue.

"The regulator will go to a granular level," said the official, declining to be named in line with government rules.

While pilot fatigue is a global problem, India is at the heart of the matter as the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with hundreds of new planes on order by IndiGo and Tata group-owned Air India.

IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has said the pilot who died had a 27-hour break before duty and was in good health.

In the United States, regulators allow pilots on two-pilot flights to be on duty for a maximum of 14 hours during the day and nine hours for late-night flights. India does not differentiate between day and night flights and allows pilots to be on duty for 13 hours within a 24-hour span.

"Whatever systemic intervention is needed, the regulator will make robust changes. It is an outcome oriented exercise and the watchdog is open to take all steps," the official said, adding India intended to be in line with other major regulators.

Indian pilots must, however, report fatigue without fear of backlash from airlines, he added.

"The airlines need to show more maturity. Rostering needs to have an element of cautious monitoring of fatigue," said the person, adding that reporting it is a "shared responsibility".

About a dozen Indian pilots with whom Reuters spoke in recent weeks shared worries not just about work hours but flight schedules they say are erratic and worsened sometimes by consecutive late-night departures without sufficient rest.

ARM YOURSELVES

Several churchgoers are dead in Haiti after deciding to march against a dangerous gang

Jacqueline Charles
Sat, August 26, 2023 

CARL JUSTE/Miami Herald File

Several worshipers in Haiti were shot and killed Saturday when their decision to fight back against an armed gang took a deadly turn.

The individuals were among hundreds of church faithful who marched on a gang controlling the expansive post-earthquake settlement of Canaan located at the edge of Port-au-Prince. Dressed in yellow T-shirts and led by their pastor, Marcorel “Marco” Zidor, they set out against the gang and their leader “Jeff” with nothing more than machetes and sticks in their hands.

Later, images shared on social media showed the group being shot at and their bloodied bodies on the ground. Another video circulated of three captured marchers on their knees being interviewed supposedly by one of the gang members about their march.

A spokesperson for the Haiti National Police did not immediately respond to questions from the Miami Herald about the incident and reports that police had accompanied the march part of the way.

Pierre Esperance of the National Human Rights Defense Network, Marie Yolène Gilles of the Eyes Wide Open Foundation and Gédéon Jean of the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, all confirmed that marchers were killed and others were injured. While Esperance and Gilles, who had been following the march through live footage on Facebook, said they did not yet have a tally on casualties, Jean said at least seven people died during the mayhem when heavily armed gang members opened fire on the group.

“There are several who are injured and others who are missing,” he said. The fate of “Pastor Marco,” Jean said, remained unknown.

He and his fellow human rights defenders criticized the comportment of the Haitian national police, which they said allowed the churchgoers to carry out a demonstration against a gang notorious for carrying out massacres and just last week warned of its intentions to shut down the last remaining open road connecting the capital to the northern regions of the country.

“You grab machetes to go attack an armed gang? The police should have blocked them,” said Jean, who also took issue with the pastor’s “irresponsible” act.

Still, he noted that the ongoing escalation in gang violence, which has turned Port-au-Prince into a war zone in recent weeks, has led to widespread desperation among Haitians.

Pasteur Marco mete tèt li sou kanaran nan moman Map pale la avèk tout fidèl li yo pou yal bay nèg ak zam yo bwa kale nou poko konnen koman sa pral pase rete Branche pic.twitter.com/ZTX7sZhsg2

— radio Independante fm (@independante_fm) August 26, 2023

Since April, Haitians have increasingly been taking justice into their own hands, launching a “self-defense” movement known as “Bwa Kale” where they’ve carried out lynchings against suspected gang members. The United Nations has said that at least 350 people, including 310 alleged gang members and a police officer, have been killed as part of the rise in vigilante justice across the country.

“The people are in a desperate situation and they are seeing if they can defend themselves,” Jean said. “They know the police cannot help them and all the international community is doing is holding meetings to discuss the problem but they are not giving the police the means to help.”

Haitians shelter in sports center as fresh attacks displace nearly 9,000

Jean Loobentz Cesar
Sat, August 26, 2023

People fleeing from gang violence, in Port-au-Prince

By Jean Loobentz Cesar

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Hundreds of people are crammed into small white tents in the courtyard of a sports center in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, drying clothes on the access ramps and washing their children in small, plastic tubs.

Some 8,730 people have been displaced around the heavily populated neighborhood of Carrefour-Feuilles, according to U.N. estimates on Saturday, more than half due to a fresh outbreak of violence two days earlier.

Residents began moving out of the area en masse from Aug. 12, when armed gangs mounted their attacks on the area.

Under-resourced police have struggled to fight off the armed groups which now control large parts of the capital, their turf wars driving a devastating humanitarian crisis that has displaced around 200,000 nationwide.

Ariel Henry, Haiti's unelected prime minister, called for urgent international security assistance last October.

Though countries were wary of backing Henry and repeating the serious abuses committed by past interventions, Kenyan delegates met with Henry and top police chiefs this week to assess leading such a force.

The motion is eventually expected to go to a U.N. Security Council vote.

"Even if order was restored to the area, I would not come back," said Orisca Marie Youseline, who grew up in Carrefour-Feuilles and is now one of some 930 people the U.N. estimates is sheltering at the Gymnasium Vincent sports center.

"We are running too much, we are tired of always being victims."

SEVERELY UNDER-EQUIPPED

Meanwhile outside the French Embassy, protected by high walls, caged security cameras and barbed wire, protesters set a tire on fire as people patrolled with machetes.

Many Haitians have joined civilian self-defense groups known as "Bwa Kale," a movement which has inspired hope but also sparked retaliation against civilians and stirred fears the groups are spurring on the violence.

After Thursday's escalation, thousands of people who had taken refuge at the Lycee Carrefour-Feuilles moved to other sites, including other schools and the square outside a cinema.

"These places are not made to handle the situation of displaced people," said Gedeon Jean, director at local rights group CARDH, which raised the alarm about the displaced residents -including people who are elderly, disabled, pregnant or with young children- going a week without aid.

Many families living in outdoor tents suffered from rains brought by Tropical Storm Franklin, now a hurricane.

Civil protection, social services and French NGO Medecins du Monde are helping supply the sites, Jean said, adding police were severely under-equipped and "the needs are huge."

"Even if this foreign force comes, when it leaves we will be in the same situation," said Youseline. "They will come for a few months, help us, push the gangs back, and when they leave we will be back here. I don't want to live like this anymore."

(Reporting by Jean Loobentz Cesar in Port-au-Prince and Sarah Morland in Mexico City; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

U.S. judge cancels hearing on Mexican suit against gun-makers, Mexico says

POSTPONES IS MORE LIKE IT

Reuters
Sat, August 26, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. judge cancels hearing on Mexican suit against gun-makers, Mexico says

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has canceled a hearing on a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Mexico seeking to hold U.S. gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating arms trafficking to drug cartels, Mexico's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry, which has been urging a U.S. appeals court to revive the case, said that the hearing, due to take place on Monday, had been canceled last Thursday.

"The judge assigned to the case, Cindy Jorgenson, issued an order canceling the hearing in which she only stated that she is considering excusing herself from hearing the present litigation," the ministry said.

The judge and U.S. court officials were not immediately available for comment.

Seven in 10 crime guns recovered and traced in Mexico come from the United States, according to U.S. gun control agency ATF. This level nears 80% across the Caribbean, where many countries have backed the Mexican lawsuit.

The Mexican and U.S. governments have recently agreed to boost controls against arms trafficking through an electronic tracking program for weapons seized from criminal groups, but neither has offered details on the plan.

(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz; writing by Sarah Morland; editing by Robert Birsel)

THE GEOGRAPHY OF DAESH

UN experts say Islamic State group almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in under a year

EDITH M. LEDERER
Updated Sat, August 26, 2023 

A sign on the northern road exiting in Gao, Northern Mali, reads "welcome to the islamic state of Gao on Jan. 30, 2013. Islamic State extremists have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less a year, and their al-Qaida-linked rivals are also capitalizing on the deadlock and perceived weakness of armed groups that signed a 2015 peace agreement, United Nations experts said in a new report.

(AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Islamic State extremists have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year, and their al-Qaida-linked rivals are capitalizing on the deadlock and perceived weakness of armed groups that signed a 2015 peace agreement, United Nations experts said in a new report.

The stalled implementation of the peace deal and sustained attacks on communities have offered the IS group and al-Qaida affiliates a chance “to re-enact the 2012 scenario,” they said.

That’s the year when a military coup took place in the West African country and rebels in the north formed an Islamic state two months later. The extremist rebels were forced from power in the north with the help of a French-led military operation, but they moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali in 2015 and remain active.

In August 2020, Mali’s president was overthrown in a coup that included an army colonel who carried out a second coup and was sworn in as president in June 2021. He developed ties to Russia’s military and Russia's Wagner mercenary group whose head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was reportedly killed in a plane crash on a flight from Moscow this week.

The 2015 peace agreement was signed by three parties: the government, a pro-government militia and a coalition of groups who seek autonomy in northern Mali.

The panel of experts said in the report circulated Friday that the impasse in implementing the agreement — especially the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants into society — is empowering al-Qaida-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, to vie for leadership in northern Mali.

Sustained violence and attacks mostly by IS fighters in the Greater Sahara have also made the signatories to the peace deal “appear to be weak and unreliable security providers” for communities targeted by the extremists, the experts said.

JNIM is taking advantage of this weakening “and is now positioning itself as the sole actor capable of protecting populations against Islamic State in the Greater Sahara," they said.

The panel said Mali’s military rulers are watching the confrontation between the IS group and al-Qaida affiliate from a distance.

The experts cited some sources as saying the government believes that over time the confrontation in the north will benefit Malian authorities, but said other sources believe time favors the terrorists “whose military capacities and community penetration grow each day.”

“In less than a year, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has almost doubled its areas of control in Mali,” the panel said, pointing to its control now of rural areas in eastern Menaka and large parts of the Ansongo area in northern Gao.

In June, Mali's junta ordered the U.N. peacekeeping force and its 15,000 international troops to leave after a decade of working on stemming the jihadi insurgency The Security Council terminated the mission’s mandate on June 30.

The panel said the armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement expressed concern that the peace deal could potentially fall apart without U.N. mediation, “thereby exposing the northern regions to the risk of another uprising.”

The U.N. force, known as MINUSMA, “played a crucial role” in facilitating talks between the parties, monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the agreement, and investigating alleged violations, the panel said.

The 104-page report painted a grim picture of other turmoil and abuses in the country.

The panel said terrorist groups, armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement, and transnational organized crime rings are competing for control over trade and trafficking routes transiting through the northern regions of Gao and Kidal.

“Mali remains a hotspot for drug trafficking in West Africa and between coastal countries in the Gulf of Guinea and North Africa, in both directions,” the experts said, adding that many of the main drug dealers are reported to be based in the capital Bamako.

The panel said it remains particularly concerned with persistent conflict-related sexual violence in the eastern Menaka and central Mopti regions, “especially those involving the foreign security partners of the Malian Armed Force” – the Wagner Group.

“The panel believes that violence against women, and other forms of grave abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law are being used, specifically by the foreign security partners, to spread terror among populations,” the report said.